From a really interesting blog: http://bighominid.blogspot.com/2005/09/buddhist-dog.html
TEMPLE GOING TO THE DOGS
Fri Sep 16,10:31 AM ET
The
newest acolyte at a temple on an outlying South Korea island is a dog
who has learned to sit, stay and perform Buddhist prayer rituals
alongside the monks.
Monks at Buljang Temple on Chindo island off the southwest coast said the stray called "Hama" now joined them at prayer.
Hama
-- Korean for hippopotamus -- follows monks into the temple and bows in
the same manner for prayer, a temple official said. Some local
Buddhists, who believe in reincarnation, are wondering what Hama may
have been in a past life.
"Since about a month ago, when the
monks were performing a ceremony paying respect to Buddha, they were
joined by this one-year-old dog," the official said by telephone.
Hama is one of a traditional Korean breed called chindo, which originated on the island.
Hama's
exploits have made the national news in South Korea and attracted a lot
of curious onlookers to the temple, where about 30 other stray dogs
live.
"The dog bows just like a monk," said college student Park Sang-jin, who visited the temple after hearing about Hama.
The Korean
jindo-gae (Jin Island dog) looks like this:
They
can be adorable, but they're usually loud and quick-tempered. One of my
relatives owned a Jindo dog who'd gone insane. I didn't approve of its
treatment: it'd been stuck on a one-meter leash for almost its entire
life (eleven years, at that point). The dog was a mess. At the same
time, I suspect that Jindo dogs are more prone to insanity than, say,
black Labrador retrievers, which are among my favorite dogs.